Sandra Brathol was our telephone operator, we would pick up the phone and listen for Sandra to ask "Number please", then she would pull a wire with a 1/4 inch plug out of her switchboard, and plug it into the jack for the number you asked for, and crank the ringer generator to ring the phone.
You really didn't need to know the number because Sandra knew everyone's, you could just say "Connect to Harry, please." and she'd know.
Before we got the fancy self ringing phone with the mouthpiece and earpiece all in the same hand held "receiver" we'd have to pick up the ear piece and crank the handle to ring Sandra. Then we'd talk into the mouthpiece that was connected to the box on the wall.
Skype it wasn't!